Thanks all. When it's fine in June, it really is among the best of times. The thrush obliged last night, I'd been chiselling away at the poem so in fact it was really only the simile that was left of the original ideas, then was just posting it and he started singing in the tree at just the right moment when it was dusk but enough light to get a clear picture.

Isabelle - well, I do go to bed quite early, but remember we are well to the west of you, so that means it gets and stays light later, and in addition we are an hour ahead of you on Central European Time, and we're on top of a hill with not too many trees and buildings around, so it's still quite light at 11 pm!

Joe - yes, the sun sets directly opposite, the last rays of it just grazing the tops of those trees, which may be why thrush likes to perch up there late and sing, as I haven't observed him there at other times of day. It almost seems as though it gives them some advantage to sing earlier and later than everyone else, as he really is still whistling away outside the bedroom window till all hours. They're also the first birds to start up singing in January. One year a pair nested in the laurel hedge quite near to the house. The parents called and called for about two days together for the young to come out, then suddenly they were altogether gone...